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Police arrested known gang member John Felix in the killing of two Palm Springs police officers Saturday afternoon.

Felix, 26, was captured alive around 12:50 a.m. Sunday morning after a standoff with police lasting 12 hours, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. He is accused of two counts of murder of a peace officer.

Felix was previously sentenced to four years in prison for a 2009 attempted murder plot in which he confessed to assault with a firearm. He was also arrested in 2013 for fighting with police on the same doorstep where Saturday’s shooting occurred.

Two police officers were killed and one was wounded in what witnesses described as heavy and sustained gunfire in Palm Springs on Saturday. Felix allegedly shot the three police officers through the closed door of his house, then barricaded himself in his house and exchanged even more gunfire with officers who responded to the initial shooting.

The shooting plunged Palm Springs into mourning and set off a hunt for the gunman. Investigators remained at the scene of the crime into Sunday morning, calling for Felix to come out of the house. Eventually, Felix was taken into custody peacefully and transported to a nearby hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries, according to a press release from the sheriff's department.

A press conference outlining more details of the arrest will be held 11 a.m. on Sunday outside the Palm Springs Police Department. Felix is being booked at the Riverside jail. His mug shot was not available as of early Sunday morning.

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A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

Emergency personnel attend to what appears to be a victim of a gun shot wound on the corner of Cypress Road and Del Lago Road in Palm Springs, California on October 8, 2016. Omar Ornelas/USA TODAY NETWORK

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A manhunt is in effect after three officers were shot, two of whom have been pronounced dead,it appears someone has barricade themselves inside a home on Cypress Road in Palm Springs, California. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun

A crowd waits outside of Desert Regional Medical Center for the bodies of two killed police officers, Lesley Zerebny and Jose Vega, to be escorted by a law enforcement procession, Saturday, October 8, 2016. Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun

Officers comfort each other after the bodies of two killed Palm Springs police officers, Leslie Zerebny and Jose Vega, are carried out of Desert Regional Medical Center, October 8, 2016. Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun

Felix allegedly told his father he wanted to kill cops moments before the gunfire began.

Frances Serrano, who lives directly across the street from where the shooting took place Saturday, spoke to Felix's father moments before the bloodshed. The father told Serrano that his son had a gun and wanted to shoot police officers.

“He came over and asked for help,” she said.

Serrano called the police and the father walked back toward his house. Soon after, Serrano heard gunshots.

"Today Palm Springs lost two brave officers," Palm Springs Police Chief Bryan Reyes said at a news conference, his voice shaking with emotion. "I am awake in a nightmare right now."

The slain police were Jose Gilbert “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny. They were the first Palm Springs police officers to die in the line of duty since 1962.

Vega was a 35-year veteran who was due to retire in December and had chosen to work overtime on Saturday, Reyes said. Zerebny, 27, had just given birth to a baby girl four months ago. She had been with the department for a year and a half.

Four officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at 12:18 p.m. and were at the door of a house when the shooting began.

"It was a simple family disturbance and he elected to open fire on a few of the guardians of our city," Reyes said.

"They were out there every day with boots on the ground for our community," he added. "They gave it all for you."

By 2 p.m., dozens of officers massed outside a house on the 2700 block of Cypress Road where Felix had barricaded himself in. Officers in tactical gear took defensive positions behind a patrol car and a concrete wall, pointing rifles in the direction of the house. A helicopter circled over the neighborhood.

More than a dozen patrol cars, three fire engines and a SWAT truck were parked on the street as the events unfolded. The area was cordoned off with yellow tape and neighbors were led away from the scene.

With police surrounding the area, neighbor Juan Garciano said he saw Felix's father leave the scene with the police, apparently cooperating with them.

After night fell, officers pointed a spotlight at the front door of the house. Using a loudspeaker, officers commanded in Spanish and then English: "Salga con las manos arriba!" – “Come out with your hands up!”

The standoff lasted through the night as officers continued to yell for Felix to show himself. They set off at least two flash-bangs, but there was no gunfire. Police sprayed the area with what appeared to be tear gas shortly after midnight.

The police were using a robot to investigate the scene. The robot open the front door of the house, dragged it away, went inside and then came out the back entrance, one witness said. No police officers went inside.

The shooting came four days after a Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant was shot and killed in Lancaster while responding to a burglary report, and three months after a gunman killed five officers in Dallas, followed days later by another shooting in Baton Rouge, where three officers were killed.

Nationwide, the number of police shot and killed so far this year is up more than 40 percent from the same time last year, according to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. In addition to the deaths on Saturday, the organization says there have been 43 firearms-related deaths of law enforcement officers in 2016, up from 30 officers slain at this time last year.

Palm Springs Mayor Rob Moon, while walking out of the emergency room where the officers were taken, said, "It's probably the worst day of my life."

Witnesses said they heard between 10 and 20 gunshots from what sounded like machine guns. One witness described hearing several gunshots and then sustained gunfire that rang out for minutes.

Gerardo Barrera was working nearby in the neighborhood when he heard the gunfire. "I saw a person on the ground,” he said. “Someone kept pumping her chest but she wasn't moving."

He said police arrived right away.

"It sounded like fireworks at first,” said Garciano, who lives a block from the scene. “I came out of the house and saw police start to block the roads."

Neighbor Luis Velasquez said he had been outside with his family having a yard sale when gunfire erupted down the street. He said he heard a couple of shots at first.

"It got quiet for like a second and then it was a couple more. And for about 10 minutes, just going back and forth," Velasquez said.

Minutes later, Velasquez said, he saw a police officer coming up the street and the officer met an ambulance on the way. He said the officer pulled another officer out of a vehicle. "His officer was shot and he started taking care of him."

The wounded officer was taken away in an ambulance, leaving blood on the ground.

"It’s usually a really, really quiet neighborhood," Velasquez said. "You always hear of these things going on in Riverside and L.A., New York, things like that. But you never think that it would happen here, your own neighborhood."

Neighbors said police had previously been called to a similar domestic disturbance at the house about a week ago.

The deaths were the first homicides in Palm Springs this year. Reyes said the Riverside County Sheriff's central homicide division is leading the investigation.

“My employees are broken. If there’s ever a time to pray for Palm Springs PD, it’s now," Reyes said. "We will get through this.”

He spoke beside framed photos of the slain officers.

“We understand we don’t have all the answers. We heavily rely on the cooperation of our community," Reyes said. "If there was ever a time I needed the cooperation of the community, it was now.”

He urged people not to live-stream the movements of police officers while the suspect was at large. “Understand we are looking for a cop murderer.”

Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement that the officers "were killed today doing what they do every day – protecting their community."

"We grieve with the family members, friends and fellow officers coping with this senseless tragedy," Brown said. "Anne and I join all Californians in offering our heartfelt condolences.”

Desert Regional Medical Center, where the three police officers were taken after the shooting, closed its doors to visitors on Saturday.

Relatives of the officers waited outside the emergency department along with uniformed police officers and Riverside County Sheriff's Department staff. Two women broke down wailing, one receiving a hug from a police officer. Then the women were led inside.

Police led a procession on Saturday night escorting the bodies of the slain officers to the Coroner's Office in Indio.

More than 200 people gathered outside the hospital ambulance bay and watched the two flag-draped coffins as they were placed in white hearses. As the hearses pulled away, more than 20 police cars followed with lights flashing. Onlookers waved flags as the procession passed.

Outside the police station, Al Contreras placed two tall blue candles beside a statue on a concrete pedestal, where other people had laid flowers. Contreras had known Vega for three decades, ever since the veteran officer started working in Palm Springs.

Sheila McCall, of Palm Springs, visited the memorial outside the police department with her 10-year-old daughter.

“I couldn’t imagine having a newborn, going back to work, and this baby’s going to never know her mom because she went to protect other people," McCall said. "And because of that, this daughter gets to grow up without a mother.”

Only two other officers have died in the line of duty in the history of the Palm Springs Police Department – one who was shot and killed during an armed robbery in 1961, and one who was killed in a traffic accident during an on-duty incident in 1962.

In May 2012, Vega and officer John Mejia were honored for saving a 2-month-old girl's life with CPR. In 2013, Vega was named Patrol Operations Officer of the Year by the Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce Peace Officer and Public Safety Awards.

City Manager David Ready said he knew Vega well.

"He was a guy who could have retired a long time ago but didn't," Ready said. "He loved being a police officer. Whenever a call went out for overtime shifts, he was always ready to volunteer."

Ready repeated the police chief's words.

"The chief summed it up: We're all awake in a nightmare. It's beyond tragic."